


Collector

by Spooky66



Category: The X-Files
Genre: Christmas, F/M, Fluff, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-11
Updated: 2017-07-11
Packaged: 2018-12-01 00:24:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11474736
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spooky66/pseuds/Spooky66
Summary: Scully has collected Christmas ornaments since she was a child.





	Collector

**Author's Note:**

> My mom has always been a collector of ornaments and it was passed down to me so today when my parent’s Christmas tree fell down it was a disaster. A bunch of her really nice (and old) blown glass ornaments broke and it was sad. We kind of had one of those corny Christmas moments though.  
> But as always real life inspires art and I thought of a little story.   
> Enjoy!

As a child Dana collected Christmas ornaments from every place they went. She loved to hang them on her little tree that stood in the room she shared with her sister. Melissa had her own Christmas tree but she liked to buy plastic pink and glittery ones at the mall but Dana treasured her ornaments. Each Christmas season she would take them out one at a time, each ornament wrapped in newspaper packed in a special box.   
In college she brought her special ornament box with her and put them on her new mini tree.   
Her collection continued to grow through adulthood. She would get pretty glass ones with glitter; antique ones that had a story, or souvenirs from special places.   
The first ornament Mulder gave her was the Christmas that they had spent in a haunted house. He’d gotten her a sparkly blown glass flying saucer that made her give a huge belly laugh. The earnest look in his eyes showed that he’d really given the gift thought and she was touched by it. She had nearly kissed him that night from his sweetness.   
After that he made it a tradition of giving her ornaments on Christmas each year. To her each ornament was a memory and the ones Mulder gave her all were treasured memories. Soon she found him at her apartment each year the weekend after Thanksgiving ready to help her get a tree from the lot and decorate it. She would tell him stories about each ornament they unwrapped and he drank them all in.   
After William was born Mulder gave her a gift that he had been saving. It was a first Christmas ornament for William that was sterling silver and shaped like a baby rattle. There was room for inscription on it and he promised to get it done for her.   
The days following his departure Scully found herself holding the treasure in her fist as she rocked their baby.   
When he reappeared and they had to go on the run Scully had to trust those behind to take care of her things, including her ornament collection.   
At first it hurt to leave all of those memories behind but she knew that Mulder and their baby were far more important. As long as they were together everything would be all right.   
The first year in their unremarkable house out in the country Scully was excited to set up the Christmas tree. They went and cut one down and four year old William was excited to have a Christmas that was spent in a real home.   
Maggie Scully had saved the two boxes of ornaments that Scully had amassed. They spent a whole day putting the lights, ornaments, and garland on the tree. They went out together and bought a star to put on the top.   
The image of Mulder lifting William up to put on the star would be in her mind forever.  
A few days after they set up the tree Scully heard Mulder and William’s running footsteps and yells echoing through the home. She smiled to herself as she folded laundry. The smile disappeared as soon as she heard the loud crash from the other room that was followed by silence.   
She ran in to see what had happened and found that their beautiful Christmas tree had fallen over and landed on William.   
“Will!” She yelled as she saw the disaster area. Mulder was pulling William out from under the tree when Scully reached his side.   
William had small cuts on his legs and was covered in sap but otherwise seemed unharmed.  
“I’m sorry mommy!” William’s big blue eyes filled with tears and Scully pulled him into a hug.   
As she did she saw the scattered glass all over the floor and knew that quite a few of her ornaments had to be broken.   
“Are you mad at me for breaking your ordamens?” William said in his little boy voice.   
She pulled him back and looked at his sweet face.   
Scully pushed some reddish hair out of his face and said, “No baby, I’m not mad. I’m just happy you’re ok.”  
“We can glue them!” Will said trying to be helpful.   
She looked around wearily at the fragments of blown glass and knew it was a lost cause.   
“Well, we’ll see.”   
Mulder helped them off the floor and they cleaned William up finding that the scratches were small and not even bleeding. They then sent Will to sit on the couch while they cleaned up the mess.   
Tears filled her eyes when her eyes landed on a fragment of the UFO ornament. The first one Mulder had ever given her.   
She picked it up and stared at it.   
Mulder came up next to her and slipped his arms around her waist, “I’ll get you one just like it.” He whispered in her hair.   
She looked up at him with a sad smile and went to put the piece in the trash can. As she continued to pick through the wreckage but stopped short when she saw a silver rattle sticking out from beneath the fallen tree.   
Scully pulled it out, knowing that it wouldn’t have broken. She held it in her hand with a sad smile and she ran her thumb over the inscription of William’s birthday and name.   
She looked over a Mulder with a smile.   
William had been distracted but now looked over to them, “What are you going to do mommy?”   
Scully pulled herself off the floor and went to him, “I’ll just have to build new memories to replace those.”   
His eyes grew wide as she knelt in front of him, “You will forget your memories?”   
She gave a small laugh and shook her head at how like his father he was when he jumped to the strangest conclusion.   
“No honey I’ll always have those in my heart but now I will get to have new memories when we buy new ornaments. Does that sound good to you?” She cupped his cheek.   
He nodded.   
“All that matters is that we are together. Things like my ornaments can be replaced but you and your dad can never be replaced.” Mulder had come around to sit next to Will and put an arm around him.   
“With or without those ornaments we will have a wonderful Christmas together.”   
William smiled happily.   
As Scully and Mulder returned to the large clean up job Scully mourned the mementos that she’d lost but knew that in the years to come their little family would make some many more memories and there would be more to collect.


End file.
